Events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism about health care and health in Kentucky

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

New services tax includes memberships in fitness centers and Weight Watchers, though Kentucky ranks seventh in obesity

Will memberships in fitness programs at YMCAs, like this one in
Lexington, be taxed? The state isn't sure. (Lane Report photo)

"Kentucky, which has the seventh highest rate of obesity in the U.S., will begin to tax fitness center and Weight Watchers memberships on July 1," Chris Otts of WDRBnotes in a report on the expansion of the state's 6 percent sales tax to several services.

"But is the YMCA – a nonprofit organization – required to collect the tax, or only for-profit gyms such as Planet Fitness?" Otts asked Richard Dobson, executive director of the Office of Sales and Excise Taxes at the state Department of Revenue. Dobson replied, “We are working on that [question] and we will be giving further clarification.”

The taxes were levied as part of a deal between House Republicans, who wanted to protect education funding and make fewer changes to teacher pensions, and Senate Republicans, whose apparent priority was tax cuts, such as lowering the state income tax to 5 percent from the current range of 5.8 to 6 percent for income above $8,000.

"Republican Gov. Matt Bevin vetoed the bill, saying he wanted a more 'comprehensive' overhaul of the state’s tax code, but lawmakers voted to override the veto on April 14, putting the changes into law," Otts notes. "Last week Kentucky officials launched a website to better explain the tax changes. They have also set up a phone line – 502-564-5700 – to take recorded questions." Questions can be emailed to taxanswers@ky.gov.

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Kentucky Health News is an independent news service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based in the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.Republication of any KHN material with proper credit is hereby authorized, but if the republication is longer than a news brief we ask that it contain the first sentence of this paragraph. For our site that features articles of lasting importance, go here.